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Sunday, 6 May 2007

Mango and Peach Charlotte Cake

I first got to know about a charlotte cake in one of the recipe pages found in a local magazine. I was attracted to the pretty cake as it looks very elegant with the ring of ladyfingers (sponge fingers), strawberries and chocolate toppings. I have been wanting to try it, but it took me a while before I could manage to get ready-made sponge fingers. I knew I have to rely on store-bought ones as I would never be able to achieve the standard and even shapes of the biscuits if I were to make them from scratch. Thanks to fellow blogger, Elyn, for telling me where to get them. Even then, it took me three separate trips to different branches before I spot them on the shelves!

I decided to make this as dessert for my "peng yu" (a.k.a friends in Hokkien) when we planned to meet up at my place. Since they are my peng yus, I was sure they wouldn't mind if the cake was not up to standard ;)

I was planning to make a strawberries version, but was not able to get any strawberries from the nearby fruit stalls. Since there were several types of mangoes available at the stalls, I came up with this mango and peach version. The recipe that I have on hand is for a mousse filling, which is made with eggs, milk and thicken cream. I didn't like the idea and went on to use the same yogurt cake recipe instead. I replaced the plain yogurt with a low-fat peach & mango flavoured one and added in chunks of fresh mangoes in between the filling to enhance the taste.

As I am not very good at cake decorating, I topped the cake with canned peach slices. This also saved me a step to prepare the sugar syrup meant for dipping the sponge fingers. I merely used the syrup from the can :)

I manage to assemble the cake without using a cake ring or a springform pan. This was done by lining a normal cake pan with a layer of foil, then place a cake cardboard on the foil inside the pan. Once the cake was chilled, I simply lift up the cake from the pan and removed the foil.

By the way, my family and friends liked this supposedly "healthy" dessert, and I quite like the filling, which is light and refreshing :)

I also made a batch of cut-out cookies for my friend's kids...there is a layer of Poohs and Piglets hiding underneath the Mickeys and Minnies. Hope they'll like them!

Dip sponge fingers in syrup from canned peach syrup. Arrange flat side around inside and base of prepared tin. (If you prefer the sponge fingers to be crisp and crunchy, you may choose not to dip them in the syrup).

Sprinkle gelatin over water in a bowl. Add in sugar and stand the bowl in a pan of simmering water, stir until dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Hi Anne, thanks, but I am the lucky one...it's not easy to maintain friendship especially when you are a full time SAHM ;)

Hi Elyn, this cake looks pretty because of the sponge fingers and peach slices...has got nothing to do with my baking skills...haha! I am sure you can come up with something pretty too! I think it can withstand room temperature, but it is best eaten chilled.

Hi Melody, that's very nice of you to make a cake for your mum!No worries, the sponge fingers will not fix onto the tin. You can try carrefour...it's usually at the biscuits section. Hope you can get the sponge fingers!

thanks for sharing the info, i manage to find it. well, i did try to make this for my mum but it doesn't turn out the way like yours. ;-P anyway, my mum likes it though since it is my 1st attempt of making a cake for the past 30 over years! =D thanks for sharing your recipe with us & make me wanted to come into your blog daily! =)

Hi Melody, great to hear that your mum likes it :D It's really the thots that counts! I won't mind eating a burnt cake if it is baked by my boys. Thanks for your encouraging words...it means a lot to me...especially on days when everything seems so bleak.

hi happy homebaker, pardon me from asking too many questions as i'm trying to make a 2nd attempt on this again. =) can you pls advise: 1) what do you mean by having the sponge fingers biscuits halved crossways? i didn't realised that during my first attempt. 2) when you mentioned about arranging the sponge fingers on the base of the prepared tin, i believe you meant we covered the base with sponge fingers right? but how can we ensure the sponge fingers are tightly laid on the base? i realised i could not filled the base as there are some 'loop holes' & could not fit tightly next to each other.3) "Arrange flat side around inside and base of prepared tin" - do you mean the sponge fingers with sugar facing outside or inside (side) & upward or downward (base)?

Hi Melody,1. I meant cutting the sponge fingers into two halves.2. There will be small gaps here and there in the base, but it's ok. You can cut small pieces of sponge fingers to fill up the gaps. 3. Sorry since I am away, I am not sure whether it is the sugar side that is facing out! You can just arrange the sponge fingers so that the flatter side faces inside for the side, and facing upward for the base...the reason I did this was try not to avoid the gaps mentioned above in your 2nd question. Hope I have answered your questions?

Side notes on the lady fingers, place your day to day spong cake batter in a zip lock bag, cut & corner & pip on a marked, 3" line on a peiece parchment, dust w/ powdered sugar. Bake in 400 F oven for roughly 5-10 min, let cool & use. You can use it as sheet band or cut them to logs to have the ladyfinger look. I find this make the charlotte & Tiramisu looks way better then the store brought (not so chucky & fit nicely).

I wonder where I can buy the lady's finger sponge biscuit to make the delicious-looking Charlotte Royal made by you. Please help as I'm unable to buy them at the supermarkets that I frequent. Thank you for your help.Janet

I tried making it last night but I can't get the whip cream to look like mousse. After half an hour of whipping, it still stay the same, do you know what happen? In the end, I just mix the yoghurt etc to the cream and it becomes lumpy.... Please help

Hi agapejen, the whipping cream has to be chilled before you can whip it easily. So only bring it out from the fridge when you are ready to whip it. Also, for whipping cream to be whipped it must have a fat content of around 30-40%. You can read more about whipping cream here (http://www.joyofbaking.com/Cream.html). Hope this helps :)

i would be making this cake in a week for my friend's bdae.. but,a few questions, we dun have vitagen here in aust, is there a substitute? and could i replace the non-dairy whipping cream with thickened cream from my local supermarkets? & the 1/2 sponge fingers on the side, are they also dipped in the syrup? & if yes, were they cut before or after the dipping?

You may try replacing vitagen with yoghurt drinks. Yes, you can use thickened cream instead, however, the cake will be very much richer in taste. As for the sponge fingers on the side, you can choose not to dip them in the syrup so that they stay crisp. and if you want to dip them in the syrup do cut them before dipping. Do take note that the sponge fingers get soggy very quicky, just gently dip them in the syrup, you can also use a brush to brush on the syrup. Hope this helps.

I managed to do 2 tiny ones(for my friends bdae 2mr) on pie trays instead... really ez... but i omitted the yogurt & just opted for cream, my friends arent too crazy over yogurt... but my decoration was really messy.. i gt cream all over... & how did u manage to make the peach slices look soo pretty??? did u trim the slices??? i had cream sticking out at almost every part!!

I didn't trim the peaches, I used canned peach slices. Maybe your cake (filling) was not set before your decorate the top with the peach slices? If the filling is more firm, it will be easier to palce the slices.

Hi Happy Homebaker,I just tried this out but all the finger floated when I poured in the filling. The filling is kind of waterery after I added in the yogurt mixture. btw, i used dairy whipping cream instead of non-dairy as i cannot find this. Could this be the problem? I did whip the whipping cream till mousse like before added in the yogurt mixture. Any idea what went wrong?tomolo is my friend b'day and i want to give her a surprise but sad to see this. :(

Hi Happy Homebaker,Finally I got it! I changed the dairy whipping cream to non dairy whipping cream. It turned out as nice as what you posted here. he he. : ) Tomorrow the birthday girl will be very happy to see this pretty pretty cake. I decorated with some strawberries too beside the peach slices. Thank you for your recipe and i really enjoy a lot reading your blog. This is the second week I tried your recipe. Last week i tried the Milo Doggie Cookie with my 2 girls and they loved it so much. In fact everybody who ate the cookie said it was nice! Thanks again!

Hi Shan, thanks for trying out my recipes, hope you like them.The filling for the mango & peach charlotte cake is soft but not watery. Maybe you can let the cake chill in the fridge longer to make sure the filling is really firm before serving. Hope this helps.

I got the cake board from SKP (there are many branches), have you heard of it? It sells mainly plastic containers/paper cups/plastic bags etc. You can also get the cake board from Phoon Huat.

The foil will crease, but not as though you purposely crumble it up like paper, u get what I mean? and it won't tear off.

Ok, let me show you a good way to make this:

1st, you need to make sure the foil it big enough to cover the pan and leave around 2 inches over hanging the side. Next, invert your normal cake pan (base facing up), and put the sheet of foil on it. Then gently (since you said you are a bit choi lor, like me!!) 'mould' the foil around the pan.Then remove the foil (it should look like a 'round pan' now), invert your cake pan, and place the moulded foil into the pan. This way, the foil won't crease too much. Then you put the cake board inside. When you need to lift up the cake, you do it quickly, get help if you are not confident. 2 pair of hands is better than 1. Simply lift it up and place it on your table. Then carefully lift up the cake using the cake board, and transfer it to your serving plate.

Hope you get the picture? Are you going to try this cake? If yes, do note that the sponge fingers get soak up very fast, so the best is to use a brush to brush on the syrup, and only on the sides that is facing inside the cake.

I think you are really great at guessing/knowing what I did last time. Haha... - Crumbling the foil unknowingly (like a paper) so that I can put it into the pan. - Making lots of tear helplessly when putting the foil into the pan- Lifting up the cake not fast enough till the foil breaks and the cake still stuck in the pan... In the end, I have to get the slices out of the pan one by one. LOL...

Thanks for the step-by-step, help me to visualise better and I will try it soon and let you know!

Yes, I am intending to do this cake. The steps look straight-forward and BEAUTIFUL.

hi homegirl, it is much easier to whip non-dairy whipping cream. You just need to make sure you only bring the cream out from the fridge when you are ready to whip it. Use a low speed initially (to avoid splattering), when the mixture starts to thicken (but still watery, maybe around 1/2 a min), u can turn to medium speed. Go on for another 1 to 2 mins, the cream should turn mousse like, ie u can see the 'marks/trails' left behind by the whisk. When u lift up the whisk, the cream should drool a little (just like beating egg whites to soft peak stage). If you are not sure, you can whisk it for another 1/2 min or so, there is no worry of over beating it (unless you are whipping Dairy cream). In Step 4, after adding the yoghurt mixture to the whipped cream, use a spatula to fold in the mixture. The final mixture is more 'pourable' than 'spoonable'...hope u know what I mean.

Hi HHBThank you for your lovely blog. I've been looking at your Tiramisu Charlotte Cake, and this question has been on my mind for some time now. Doesn't the ring of sponge fingers fall apart after the cake was lifted from the baking tin? Does it work without the ribbon?Thanks again!I love looking throught your blog!!

Hi, thanks for visiting :)No, the sponge fingers will not fall apart without the ribbon, somehow the fillings will be able to hold them together. You can take a look at my green tea tiramisu (http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/2009/08/matcha-delight.html), I didn't use a ribbon :)

This is random. For my malay engagement event, I plan to present this as a gift (we exchange 5 to 7 "platings" between guy & gals). The thing is, the gifts will have to be laid out on the wedding bed for the whole day. Will this lovely yogurt tart last outside & stand on its own- for how long? :)